Jan and Dean – Surf City

I remember watching Dead Man’s Curve when I was a kid about Jan and Dean and the terrible car wreck Jan Berry was involved in.

This song was written by Brian Wilson and he didn’t think he would ever finish it. Jan met him at a party and helped Brian finish the song. Dean also contributed some lines but never asked for any writing credits. “Two girls for every boy”…what teenage boy didn’t want to go there for a visit. It was the first surf record to hit number 1 nationally.

Brian Wilson’s controlling dad Murry was furious at Brian for giving away a number 1 hit to someone else. Brian was happy that another group took his song and made a hit with it.

When I was a senior in High School for some unknown reason I really got into surf music at the beginning of the year. I listened to Jan and Dean, the Beach Boys, and The Ventures. I was the first person at school to wear a Hawaiian shirt and got snickered at…but by the end of the year there were other people wearing them…the one and only time in my life I was a trendsetter…a fact I’m not really proud of…

I must have been looking forward to my after graduation summer trip with my buddies to Cocoa Beach Florida. A fifteen-hour drive one way in a Celica Sports Coupe with 4 guys packed in there. We picked the name (Cocoa Beach) because it sounded great…Yep pretty stupid because we could have driven 7 hours to Pensacola instead.

I continued to listen to the Beach Boys “Pet Sounds” and “Endless Summer” albums but was never really into the Beach music again. Surf music is nothing but fun… The Beach Boys took it further than anyone with Pet Sounds. By that time though Surf purists didn’t like it. They wanted the old formula songs… I wasn’t a purist…

Surf City (Wilson and Berry)

Two girls for every boy

I got a ’34 wagon and I call it a Woody
(Surf City here we come)
You know it’s not very cherry, it’s an oldie but a goodie
(Surf City here we come)
Well it ain’t got a back seat or a rear window
But it still gets me where I want to go

Well, we’re going to Surf City ‘coz it’s two to one
Yeah, we’re going to Surf City, wanna have some fun
Well, we’re going to Surf City ‘coz it’s two to one
Yeah, we’re going to Surf City, wanna have some fun

Two girls for every boy

Well, [Incomprehensible] tension ‘coz there’s always something goin’
(Surf City, here we come)
You know they’re either out surfin’ or they got a party growin’
(Surf City, here we come)
Well, there’s two swingin’ honeys for every guy
And all you gotta do is just wink your eye

Well, we’re going to Surf City ‘coz it’s two to one
Yeah, we’re going to Surf City, wanna have some fun
Well, we’re going to Surf City ‘coz it’s two to one
Yeah, we’re going to Surf City, wanna have some fun

Two girls for every boy

And if my Woody breaks down on me somewhere on the surf route
(Surf City, here we come)
I’ll strap my board to my back and hitch a ride in my wet suit
(Surf City, here we come)
And when I get to Surf City I’ll be shootin’ the curl
And checkin’ out the parties for a surfer girl

Well, we’re going to Surf City ‘coz it’s two to one
Yeah, we’re going to Surf City, wanna have some fun
Well, we’re going to Surf City ‘coz it’s two to one
Yeah, we’re going to Surf City, wanna have some fun

Two girls for every
Two girls for every boy

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball fan, old movie and tv show fan... and a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

13 thoughts on “Jan and Dean – Surf City”

      1. I saw Brian 6 years ago in concert. Felt so badly for him. Al Jardine is a saint- it was his job it seemed to keep Brian on task.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Heroes and Villains- The Story of The Beach Boys- Steven Gaines– and Catch A Wave-Peter Ames Carlin…. not the two Brian autobiographies.. and one book I refuse to read is Mike Love’s recent book…

        Liked by 1 person

      4. I don’t like Mike Love… if only for the 88 Rock and Roll hall of fame stunt… thank you I will get one of them

        Liked by 1 person

      5. Mike Love is #1 on my list of biggest jerks in rock and roll history. He has such a big ego he thinks he is right up there with McCartney and Jagger etc…He should just be thankful he was Brian’s cousin. ….. There was a radio show out of Chicago I listened to back in the 80’s- Steve and Gary- they replayed the afternoon show at midnight- i’d say up til 5 am or whatever- listening to them.. Steve was always writing parady’s – he did one making fun of Mike Love and his always wearing a hat- Help Me Rugman…

        Liked by 1 person

      6. Oh that is great! Yes he might have the ego but not the talent to back it… I was just stunned when I heard him at the 88 awards show.
        And a few years back didn’t he take the Beach Boys over from Brian? It was something about touring and suddenly Brian wasn’t touring with them anymore and Mike had something to do with it.

        Liked by 1 person

      7. yes in 2012 they had the 50th reunion tour- brian and mike were together than all the sudden Brian and Al were out- that is when I saw Brian and Al and a cast of at least a dozen- when they were out touring on their own… Love always has seemed so jealous of the admiration Brian has received. I saw a documentary on the beach boys a few years ago- can’t recall the name and you could tell Mike was really trying hard not to be the jerk he always comes out as– he was even claiming he knew right away that Pet Sounds was great and he was all on board… but by the last quarter of the doc he just couldn’t help himself- he was back to being Mike Love.

        Liked by 1 person

      8. I’m far from a Beach Boy expert but I’ve read where he didn’t like it at all…that went also with Smily Smile or whatever the next one was going to be.
        If he had the talent it would be one thing…not that it’s good being a jerk but geez Mike… to me he was on the level of Jan and Dean…I never really thought he had a great voice either….that’s not just me piling on either.

        Liked by 1 person

      9. I agree with your comments on him.. no he hated Pet Sounds and Smile- he wanted to stick with the same formula- Fun Fun Fun.. He is a minor league talent with a major league ego. Every time he checks his bank account he should be thankful for Brian Wilson.

        Like

  2. The words at 0:48 are “They say they’re never on the streets cause there’s always something going”. 7 hours to Pensacola? Were you in Houston? If you were a HS senior in 63, I was 3 years behind you. But the Celica didn’t come out until Dec. 1970. Probably a Toyota Corona. We used one in Hawaii in ’67 and it was cramped.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. No I graduated in 1985…I always listened to music a generation before me. I live in Nashville and it’s about 7 hours there…

      Like

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: